Infants born heavy are vulnerable to later obesity, but it is unknown whether obesity‐related risk factors present between conception and delivery predict their postnatal weight trajectory. We modelled the weight trajectories of infants born high birth weight (HBW, greater than or equal to 4000 g) and/or large for gestational age (LGA, greater than 90th percentile) using data from the Infant Feeding Practices Study II (N = 371). A high percentage of infants were both HBW and LGA, but the trajectories were modelled separately. Weight of infants born heavy begins high, gradually decreases, and then levels off by 12 months. Delivery method was the only predictor of weight. Caesarean‐delivered HBW infants were heavier than vaginally‐delivered HBW infants although this effect disappeared by 12 months. Findings indicate that early‐life influences are not necessarily deterministic of the postnatal weight trajectory of infants born heavy. Future research is needed to examine postnatal behaviours that may be implicated in the relationship between large size at birth and later obesity.

中文翻译：

---

出生体重过重的儿童体重过重的早期决定因素。

出生时体重较重的婴儿容易患上肥胖症，但尚不清楚受孕和分娩之间存在的肥胖相关风险因素是否能预测其出生后体重轨迹。我们使用来自婴儿喂养实践研究 II ( N = 371)。高比例的婴儿同时是 HBW 和 LGA，但轨迹是单独建模的。出生较重的婴儿体重开始较高，逐渐下降，然后在 12 个月时趋于平稳。分娩方式是体重的唯一预测指标。剖腹产的 HBW 婴儿比阴道分娩的 HBW 婴儿更重，尽管这种影响在 12 个月时消失了。研究结果表明，早期生活的影响并不一定是出生体重较重的婴儿出生后体重轨迹的决定性因素。未来的研究需要检查可能与出生时大尺寸和后来的肥胖之间的关系有关的产后行为。